


A Different Kind of Operation

by Efflorescent



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Destiel - Freeform, Fluff, Jo and Charlie Ship it, M/M, Meddling Kids, alternative universe, everyone ships it, hospital au, nurse!Cas, nurse!Dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 16:52:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13815411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Efflorescent/pseuds/Efflorescent
Summary: Dean Winchester has been a Pediatric nurse for about six years now. When his patient sees him talking with Castiel, she and her roommate decide they're meant to be together. Let the match-making begin.





	A Different Kind of Operation

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: I actually wrote this story forever ago. I mean literally like over a year ago. I just forgot about it and never posted it. So I guess here you go. It's incredibly short because I am horrible at writing long fics.

Honestly, if someone had told Dean when he was in high school that he would fall in love with Pediatric nursing, he would tell ‘em to shut the hell up.  He’d _believe_ them because he fucking loves working with kids, but he’d still tell them to shut up because no way would he be able to get into the medical profession.  But here he is: an honest to god _nurse_. Nursing school was hell on earth and made him cry more times than he’d like to admit, but he passed his boards and managed to snag the only open position on the Pediatrics floor at the closest hospital to Sammy and it’s been like this for the last 6 years.  He’s got people he cares about who care about him, so he’s doing pretty great.  Life is on the up and up.  He smiles up at his coworkers as he passes them now.  As he’s wheeling one of his patients back from physical therapy, he sees a familiar tuff of hair.

“Cas!” Dean calls out and the man turns. Dean bends down to his patient “Mind if we make a quick pit stop?” Dean whispers to her. Her blonde hair falls over her shoulder and she gives an indifferent shrug at him. “Thanks, Jo,” he says before Cas is nearby.

“How are you, Dean?” Cas smiles at him and it still warms him somehow.

“I’m great, actually. I tried walking over to Trauma to give you some coffee this mornin’ but I couldn’t find ya! Why’re you here in peds?” Dean rubs at the back of his neck.

“I managed to find some terrible coffee on my own, fortunately or unfortunately. It’s been pretty busy. We’re really understaffed, _nobody_ likes floating to our unit, and I got an admit from the Emergency Department. She’s just so tiny that the adult robes drown her, so I came to steal a kid-sized one.” Dean can tell he looks exhausted but he loves that he’d be willing to come here just to get one thing. He claps his hand onto Cas’s shoulder and pulls back quickly when he sees Jo watching their exchange closely. Suddenly feeling awkward under her watchful gaze, Dean decides to wrap it up just in case she’s uncomfortable.

“That sucks, man. But hey. Only a few more hours to go. I’ll probably see you when we’re clocking out.” Cas smiles brightly at him and Dean can’t tear his eyes away. Eventually Dean steps back and Cas waves the hand containing the robe at Dean in goodbye and walks away. He watches the man leave for a few more seconds before guiding Jo’s wheelchair back to her room, noticing that she’s sitting a whole lot straighter than before.

“M’kay, Jo! We’re back. If you wanna just get in bed, I’m going to take a listen to your heart and lungs.” Dean pulls his stethoscope from around his shoulders, puts the earpieces in his ears, and begins listening to her heart until he hears the vibrations of her speaking. He’s more than a little stunned since she’s said fewer than five words to anyone since she’s been here.

“What was that?” He asks as he removes one of his earpieces.

“You like him, don’t you?” Dean’s a little too stunned to really process the question since this is the first _conversation_ they’ve had.

“Who?” Dean looks up at her big eyes and small smile.

“That other nurse you talked to in the hallway. With the deep voice.” She has a gleam in her eyes that Dean’s only ever seen on Sammy.

“Cas? Are you talking about Castiel, Jo?” Dean tilts his head in shock and removes the other earpiece. He can listen to her better when she stops talking.

“Yeah! Him!” She’s leaning forward and propping herself up now and he’d tell her to relax if this wasn’t the most energized he’s ever seen her. “We’ve all noticed! You smile at him a lot and bring him coffee and watch him when he walks away! Classic disgusting romance.”

“You’ve _all_ noticed? Who is ‘we’?” Dean’s curiosity is just burning at him.

“Me!” Dean startles a little when a red head pops from around the curtain of the bed he previously thought was unoccupied.

“Ohhhh. You and _Charlie_ have come up with this ‘brilliant’ idea.” He lays on the sarcasm that they seem to completely misinterpret.

“Well we see you two together a lot. He gets you coffee on Tuesdays and Fridays. You get _him_ coffee on Mondays and Thursdays.” Jo notes with a proud smirk on her face.

“You know, for someone who hasn’t talked to us much in the two months she’s been here, you sure have a lot to say now. Have you two been spying on me?” Dean goes for stern, but it comes out amused. Don’t get him wrong. He’s _happy_ that Jo is talking and that she and Charlie are apparently friends, but this is hitting a little too close to home.

“Like we said: It’s not just us. Kevin and Krissy have noticed it too.” Charlie says, failing ‘Scheming 101’ and readily giving up the names of their accomplices.

This information sort of knocks Dean off his feet. If he had to describe his unit, he would say it was closer to pediatric surgery with its fair share of psych. Jo’s father passed away while they were camping together. She had wandered the woods for a week before they found her malnourished and in shock. She has recovered from her physical injuries, but her mental ones have kept her here. Charlie is what would be considered a ‘frequent flyer’ on the unit as this is the third time she has been here relating to surgeries from the car accident that took her mother. But Kevin and Krissy are all here for smaller things and must be desperately bored out of their minds to notice him and Cas.

“So what are you going to _do_ about it?” Jo looks at Dean with a light in her eyes and Dean doesn’t have the heart to disappoint her especially when she’s so… lively. So he makes his decision and goes into it full-force.

“What do you mean ‘ _do’_? There’s nothing I _can_ do about it.” Dean shrugs helplessly. Jo and Charlie take a second to look at one another and nod before Charlie is hopping off the other bed and digging through the second drawer of Jo’s bedside table. She pulls out a blue spiral notebook that’s already opened to a page and slaps it on Jo’s bed like she’s upping the ante at a poker table.

“We thought you might say something like that. So we’ve got a game plan. _I_ wanted to call it ‘Operation: Nurses Edition,” Charlie dramatically waves a hand in the air in a neat rainbow arch. “But Jo _insisted_ on ‘Destiel’.” Charlie laughs when Jo smacks her arm. If Dean was intimidated _before_ the notebook of intricate plans for him and Castiel to hook up came out, then he has no words to describe what he was feeling now.

“You… guys have put a _lot_ of thought into this.” Dean is staring between them and their proud and completely unashamed faces.

“We have a lot of time on our hands.” Jo smiles in that small way like she’s slightly embarrassed but not sorry for it. “Maybe read a few ideas before you shoot us down! We really think it would work and you and Castiel might actually be… happy together!” Jo’s animated face and the strong emotion in her eyes is more than enough to convince Dean that saying yes was the right choice.

“Okay, okay.” Dean raises his hands in defeat. “What’s ‘Plan A’?”

 

* * *

 

‘Plan A’ has Dean finding himself with an extra cup of coffee for Castiel, heading over to his unit. Seeing as the only thing keeping their units separated is a single hallway for the visitor’s elevator, it’s not really going out of his way. Jo and Charlie are completely obvious watching him walk down the hallway and looking anywhere else when he turns to look back at them. He’s not sure which rooms Cas’s patients are in so he’s slowing down at each room when someone suddenly comes around the corner and smacks straight into him. He attempts to grip the Styrofoam cup to keep it from dropping but ends up gripping it way too hard. The cup collapses in on itself, the top shoots off, and the coffee makes a mad dive for his scrubs, scalding his chest. Dean lets out an undignified yelp and reflexively pulls his scrub top away from his skin. Without thinking, he moves to pull it over his head, but the burning coffee manages to trap his undershirt and scrub top together without his noticing, pulling them in unison as Dean tries to remove it.

“Um… Dean? I’m compelled to ask: Why are you stripping naked in the hallway?” And Dean recognizes that voice, but he’s caught in his bear trap of a scrub top and has only just realized he is exposing his entire front up to his collarbone to anybody that’s in front of him.

“Oh dear god” He manages to mumble out as he finagles his shirts back into place, his face just as red as his chest now. He has no eloquent response and would honestly rather jump out the window from embarrassment when he sees four other nurses, two residents, a patient, and a visitor laughing at him. With the articulation of a college graduate having a Bachelor’s of science under his belt, Dean chokes out the words “hot coffee” before he hands Cas the crumpled Styrofoam cup, turns on his heels, slips and nearly falls on the damned assassination attempt disguising itself as coffee on the floor, and makes his way back to a wide-eyed Jo and Charlie who look like they’re about to explode from laughter. They lose their composure when one of the nurses on the Trauma side shouts out “I like your tattoo, Dean!”

 

* * *

 

‘Plan B’ is a work in progress. They had to reconvene after ‘Plan A’ and after Charlie and Jo stopped laughing.

“Okay so ‘Plan A’ was a raging success!” Charlie declares with a bright smile. Dean and Jo look at her like she just spoke backwards. She obviously won’t elaborate until they prompt her.

“And how do you think _that_ was a success? It was the most embarrassing thing I’ve seen in my 16 years of existence and I remember 7 th Grade vividly.”

“Thanks, Jo.” Dean snorts.

“Sorry, Dean. You belly flopped magnificently, though.”

“It’s a _success_ because he got to show Castiel the goods.” Charlie starts.

“Yeah, him and everyone else in that hallway. You are seriously _covered_ in freckles.” Jo adds.

“Yes. He got to show a lot of people and _Castiel_ the goods. Dean, you didn’t see it because you were experiencing World War III with your wardrobe, but that Janet Jackson you pulled _definitely_ got his attention.” Charlie adds.

“Yeah! You’re right! Castiel was eyeballing you pretty hard!” Jo agrees.

“Well I _did_ just flash an entire hallway so…” Dean tries to wave it off to no avail.

“Nope! Cas looked _excited-stunned_. I’m thinking it can only go up from here.” Charlie grins mischievously.

“We’ve gotta revise ‘Plan B’ and account for new… variables. We’ll figure out ‘Plan B’ and tell you when we’re ready.” Jo looks at Charlie who immediately nods her head and poises her pen to write on the notebook.

They don’t really get to it for another forty minutes because, surprisingly, Dean is still at work and has one other patient besides Charlie and Jo. But when he walks to their room - or ‘lair’ since they’ve been giving off a serious mad-genius vibe all day – they are poised and ready with something behind their backs.

“So ‘Plan B’ _was_ to get you to be sexy, but I think we don’t want to get too complicated for you,” Charlie opens with a breathtaking amount of shade. “so we’re going to make it nice and easy. Jo, if you would be so kind.” Charlie nods to Jo who pulls a new scrub top and a popsicle from behind her back.

“Your top is all stained, so change into this. And we figured you probably haven’t had lunch yet, so we wanted to give you a popsicle as an apology for the amazing failure earlier.” Jo smiles wider when Dean takes both items with narrowed eyes.

“I have yet to hear a plan.” Dean holds both items at a distance on the off-chance that they’ve got bombs implanted on them.

“It’s simple!” Charlie starts, “you’re going to walk over there and pretend that one of the vitals thingies here isn’t working so you need to borrow one from over there. Then you’ll run into Castiel and see how flustered he gets because of earlier. This is mostly recon. We want you to tell us how he reacts.” She smiles innocently and Dean still wonders what they’re playing at.

“Well okay. I’m going to go change and we’ll see how this goes.” It’s only after he leaves does he realize how hot it was in their room. They must have cranked the heat in there or something. He enters the employee bathroom located kiddie corner to their room and removes his scrub top. His undershirt is hopelessly stained as well, so he removes that too. His chest is still a bright pink and only highlights his relative hairlessness and freckles. He heaves a sigh and moves to put on the new scrub top, finding it to be a little difficult.

“What the hell?” He grunts to himself as he pushes through the sleeves and gets his broad shoulders and head in. He looks into the mirror to confirm his suspicion: The top is a full size too small. It hugs his shoulders and compresses his chest like if he were to breathe, it would rip. So _this_ was their plan. He takes the popsicle and hastily walks back over to their room and feels the blast of heat like a wall when he enters.

“Really? _Really???_ ” Dean gestures to himself in exasperation.

“It’s very flattering on you.” Jo says with a serious expression and mirth behind her eyes. It has only just occurred to him that he didn’t even question where they got the extra scrub top.

“Who did you steal this from? Freaking _Garth_ or something?” Dean genuinely feels like if he breaths out hard enough, he could rip this thing and Garth is one of the skinnier nurses on the unit.

“No! We wouldn’t steal it!” Jo says indignantly.

“Yeah!” Charlie nods. “That’s a slanderous accusation, Dean! We’ll have you know that _Lisa_ lent us her extra scrub top quite willingly!”

“Oh come _on_!” Dean has never felt more exhausted. And he feels like he’s sweating. Why the hell is their room so freaking _hot_?

“Just trust us! It’ll work!” Charlie delicately pushes Dean back out the door and he huffs when he hears the door close and the two girls giggling maniacally.

He makes his way back over to Cas’s unit and still feels warm when he remembers the popsicle in his hand. He gently presses the wrapper to his forehead to cool himself down and it works for a few seconds before he decides to just say ‘fuck it’ and opens the wrapper because he’s definitely earned this thing at this point. Charlie and Jo must have gotten this popsicle a bit ago because it’s already showing signs of melting and by the time he gets to where he’s guessing Cas’s rooms are, the juice is already sliding down his hand and he has to hastily lick up the side of his palm to keep it from dripping everywhere. He spots Castiel coming out of a room and makes his way over to him.

“Hey, Cas.” Dean says with a small smile on his lips. Despite everything, Cas really puts Dean in a good mood.

“Hello again, Dean. This would make it three times I’ve seen you in one 12-hour shift. To what do I owe the plea-” Castiel stops short when he sees Dean lick up the juice from the popsicle that has started running down his hand again. He tracks the movement of Dean’s tongue, but manages to finish out his inquiry. “pleasure.”

“Well, I need to steal a vitals cart from you. The one in one of my rooms isn’t working and I figured I’d kidnap one from you for a second.” Dean places his free hand on the vitals cart sitting plugged into the wall beside them. “And if I get to see you, then that’s an added bonus.” He adds smoothly, pulling the cart towards him while watching Cas smirk. He almost causes the cart to tip over when he’s met with resistance and realizes he forgot to unplug it from the wall. His face goes warm again and he reaches with his popsicle hand to unplug it but his hand isn’t free. He’s a little too embarrassed to ask Cas to hold his fucking popsicle, so he does what any person in his situation would do. He pops the entire popsicle in his mouth and since he doesn’t like the sensation of it on his teeth, he slides it in all the way to the stick. With his newly freed hand, Dean pulls the cord from the wall and stand while sucking on the popsicle to keep the juice from running. He’s met with Cas’s eyes as wide as saucers and his mouth agape. Cas’s eyes track his lips and the juice coming from the corner of his stretched lips.

“Did… did you just _deep throat_ that popsicle?” Cas asks in a husky voice.

Dean is flustered for words for a while and watches Cas’s eyes dilate as he removes the popsicle from his mouth.

“It… it isn’t that big?” Dean tries and knows that it’s a stupid thing to say when Cas’s eyes shift from his mouth to the popsicle and back again. “I don’t know man. Two of my patients had the plan to give me this shirt and popsicle.” Dean’s voice sounds accusatory and embarrassed. It’s then that Dean notices Cas taking in Dean’s entire appearance from the reddened lips from the popsicle to his too-tight scrub top with unconcealed desire. Holy _shit_ these girls are good.

“Dean. I’m not going to lie. I would like to thank those two patients of yours. They’re the best lot yet. Very good patients indeed.” Cas continues to admire Dean, smiling when he sees Dean flush prettily. “I am eager to see you once we get off work.” He says simply and walks away, leaving Dean surprised and excited. Maybe Charlie and Jo _are_ the best patients he’s had so far. He makes his way back, pushing the vitals cart before he remembers he doesn’t actually need it. He looks around and abandons it next to a computer and swiftly walks back around the corner and runs straight into Charlie and Jo. He tries not to act surprised and moves past them, paying no attention when they fall in stride beside him.

“First of all: yes. We were watching. Second of all: Holy _crap_! That couldn’t have gone better!” Charlie jumps in excitement. She grabs Jo’s hand and Jo bounces with her, face flushed in joy.

“I didn’t think it was going to work, but it did! Oh _boy_ did it work like a dream!! You guys were just standing there, like, two inches from each other and he looked like he wanted to kiss you so bad! And you guys do this cute thing where y’all kind of mimic each other. Did you know that? When he tilts his head, you tilt yours. When you rub the back of your neck, he rubs his arm! You gotta tell us, what exactly did he say?” Jo is talking a mile a minute. The epiphany hits him in the way that he’s seen happen on House. They had _planned_ for this to happen. _That’s_ why the room was so hot. So Dean would be warm and want to eat the popsicle and so it would melt. _Holy_ _shit_ they had planned this! How the hell did they know?! Dean would be embarrassed that they saw how it went down if it weren’t for how absolutely happy and excited she looks. She’s been so down since getting here, barely talking, hardly eating, but seeing this excitement and _life_ from her makes Dean so happy that he remembers why he wanted to become a nurse in the first place. And why he does this.

“Well… he basically said to thank you and that he can’t wait to see me after we get off work.” Dean smiles when the girls let out a light squeal and bounce excitedly again.

“Oh my gosh! I can’t wait! Are you gonna be my nurse tomorrow? You have to tell me what happens! You gotta just straight up ask him out!” Jo is buzzing with energy and excitement. So much so that she doesn’t even notice her mother at the door to her room.

“Joanna?” Dean looks straight at Jo’s mother, Ellen. The woman has a shell-shocked look on her face, staring at her daughter with wide eyes.

“Mama!” Jo calls out in happiness. “Oh my gosh, mama! I gotta tell you about today! It has been amazing! You’re not gonna believe it. Charlie and I are two regular old Cupids! We went all matchmaker on Dean! There’s this other nurse who-” Jo is still talking rapidly but is cut off when her mother wraps her in a big hug. Silence falls among their small gathering when Dean sees Ellen look at him with tears pooling in her eyes.

“My baby girl. Oh my baby girl. Lord have I missed your voice.” Ellen coos, holding Jo tighter when she feels her daughter hug back.

“Mama…” Jo says with a small amount of embarrassment.

Charlie looks on with an expression of pure bliss and happiness for her friend and shares a look of joy with Dean at the heartwarming scene they’ve been allowed to be a part of. Ellen adjusts her head and looks straight at Dean with a watery smile.

“Thank you so much. I haven’t heard my baby’s voice in so long, I forgot she talks like she’s auctioning something.” She huffs out a small puff of laughter before continuing. “Thank you. I’m sure she’s been raising hell for you all day just from what I just heard.” She lets out a genuine laugh when Jo lightly pushes away from her, cheeks scarlet from the moment.

“We were doin’ good, honest work, Mama. You gotta see the way they look at each other. It’s gross and needed to be helped since Dean probably wouldn’ta done nothin’ if it weren’t for Charlie and me.” Jo looks to Charlie and they both nod in agreement with one another.

“They don’t know what they’re talking about, Mrs. Harvelle. They’re both delusional and I’m worried. But they haven’t been too bad.” Dean winks at her and sticks his tongue out when Jo and Charlie do so.

“Please, call me Ellen. If you don’t mind, I think I wanna hear what mischief these two have been plotting.” Ellen says with an affectionate smile as she wraps an arm around both Jo and Charlie and they make their way to the room. She opens the door and guides the two girls in before turning back to Dean. “And thank you again, Dean. I know you probably won’t really think much of it, but it’s great to see that my baby girl is coming back.” Ellen gives him another shaking smile and wraps her arms around Dean in a brief hug which Dean easily accepts.

“It’s no big deal, Ellen. You’ve got an awesome daughter over there. She’s gonna come out of this stronger than ever.” He feels a genuine warmth in his stomach at the effects of all this and steps away to let her spend time with her daughter.

He only has about 20 minutes left in the shift and has a little bit of charting to wrap up. He explodes in laughter and startles Garth at one of the computers when he hears Ellen’s voice cry out “Why the _hell_ is it so HOT in here?!”

 

* * *

 

 

He only gets to see Jo and Charlie once more before he’s giving report to the next nurse. He doesn’t want to disturb them as he sees Charlie sitting on the end of the bed looking adoringly at Jo as she animatedly explains how they came up with their elaborate plan. He wishes them a goodnight and receives three hugs instead. He grabs his messenger bag from the locker room and makes his way to the empty employee elevator. The doors are just about to close when an arm intervenes, causing the doors to open again. Castiel makes his way into the elevator and smiles when he sees Dean. He checks to see that the main floor button is pushed before standing right beside Dean.

“How was the rest of your shift?” Cas asks amicably, turning towards Dean with undivided attention.

“It was pretty awesome, Cas. Those two patients I was talking about were very proud of themselves. One of them had barely spoken in two months. Her mom nearly cried seeing her daughter talking and _feeling_ something again.” Dean’s smile widens when he sees Cas grinning his beautiful, gummy grin.

“Well, this is why we do this, Dean.” Cas’s eyes are so affectionate and his hand is so warm when he places it on Dean’s shoulder. The elevator dings when they make it to the main level and they walk to the exit side by side, talking about the fiascos of the day on both sides.

As soon as they exit the hospital they both reach into their respective bags and remove solid gold rings, sliding them onto their own left ring fingers. Cas joins their right hands, lacing their fingers together and uses his left hand to guide Dean’s lips to his own. Their kiss is one of long experience. It’s brief but intimate and comfortable from years of knowledge.

“I love you so much. Your heart is so big.” Cas pulls his mouth away just a hair so that the breath of his words still dance on Dean’s lips. Dean rests his forehead on Cas’s and can’t stop the smile that takes over his face.

“I love you too, babe.” He leans in to kiss his husband again before they pull away to continue walking home. They fall into comfortable silence before Cas speaks up again.

“Honestly these two were the most creative of the bunch. They got it in only two attempts.” Cas opens with a small bit of admiration in his voice.

“I know, right? I mean, I’m pretty sure the last few groups that tried to pair us up just straight up stole their ideas from Teen Magazine. Considering how creative and observant they are, I’m kinda surprised those two didn’t notice that we share the same last name!” Dean chuckles under his breath at the fond memories.

“I think you’re right. But I’m glad to do this if it means helping them.” Cas rests his head on Dean’s shoulder as they walk.

“Well, _yeah_. It’s not _you_ that they like to embarrass.” Dean’s voice holds nothing but affection and warmth.

“I’m just glad that they’re not trying to pair my husband up with someone else. If I have to sacrifice your pride, then I will gladly do so.” Cas says nobly.

“It’s embarrassing, but when I see people like Jo finally talking again and getting engaged and just… healing, then it is 100% worth it. I just hate taking off the ring every day.” Dean’s thumb fiddles with his wedding ring while he speaks. “But hospitals are disgusting anyway and if they want to use you and me as a coping technique, then I’m glad to do it.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Castiel smiles into the kiss and Dean feels every ounce of love electrifying itself through their lips.

So yeah. Dean and Cas have done this whole ‘pretend like their being set up for Dean’s patients’ thing a few times before. And the kids really benefit from the socialization, distraction, goal-setting, and reward that comes with it. Dean is ~~mostly~~ happy to spill coffee on himself, or ‘trip’ into Castiel’s arms, or –one time- ‘accidentally’ run his mouth into Cas’s. Dean’s happy to provide that. And if it reminds him and Cas how much they love each other and how much strangers can _see_ that, then he’s happy to reap the rewards of that too.

 

**End**

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> *Gasp* Hidden Established Relationship! Plot twist™! M.Night WHO? Anyway, thanks for the read! I hope it wasn't too bad. Feel free to follow me on Tumblr and request a fic idea!


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